I really like the GHA Discovery loyalty program from Global Hotel Alliance. GHA is what small hotel groups join when they don’t have the scale on their own to start a program. The properties mostly skew premium, and the program provides:

• Pretty good rebates
  
• Elite status with upgrades and other benefits like early check-in and late check-out
  
• And that status is pretty easy to earn (for instance, top tier Titanium can even be reached in just three nights if each night is with a hotel in a different participating brand – this can be accomplished in the same city in many cases).
  
• Nice, interesting places to stay that often have more of a boutique feel or eclectic vibe instead of the sameness of larger chains.

I’ve reviewed stays at the NH Hotel Palazzo dei Dogi in Venice, at Kempinski Cancun, Lyle Hotel in DC and Viceroy DC.

Lyle DC

So I was pretty curious when I saw the announcement that GHA Discovery has brought on a restaurant group as part of the program: The Wolseley Hospitality Group, a “signature collection of European dining concepts across London.”

The Wolseley Hospitality Group operates some of London’s best-loved restaurants such as The Wolseley, renowned for its spectacular interior, classic cuisine, and seamless service. The Wolseley has earned its reputation as one of London’s premier all-day café-restaurants, becoming an iconic institution the world over.

In addition, The Wolseley City in Monument, The Delaunay in Aldwych, Brasserie Zédel in Soho, Colbert in Chelsea, Fischer’s in Marylebone, Soutine in St John’s Wood, Bellanger in Islington and Manzi’s in Soho are all part of the group’s growing portfolio, with strategic international expansions planned for the near future.

There are two reasons why this strikes me as interesting, even if these restaurants aren’t in my immediate plans (although this announcement does make them more focal).

1. It’s the first earn and burn redemption option for GHA Discoviery at a restaurant while not a hotel guest. So they should use the learning, tech and processes here and roll that out to hotels in their portfolio. It’s a way to push more dining business to those hotels.

2. It points to potential growth into more verticals than just hotels for GHA Discovery.

Here’s how it works:

• Guests scan a QR code provided by the waiter.
  
• That pulls up a bill, and one of the payment options is Discovery Dollars.
  
• Choosing this option presents a login screen and then a choice for how many D$ to apply to the bill.
  
• Instant program enrollment is also an option, earning Discovery Dollars on the same visit.

The missed opportunity, here, I think is elite status benefits. Restaurant spend does count towards status (but not as a stay). But there’s no status recognition as part of the restaurant integration.

The most successful loyalty programs have two separate components: recognition and reward. Different members respond to each piece in varying proportions. Rebates and points redemption is great, but treating your most valuable customers better often goes an even longer way.

Restaurants could offer premium table locations, a special amuse bouche or added petit fours after the meal, and priority reservations or waitlisting for GHA Discovery elite members. And this could be added into hotel dining as well.

I’m curious to see where this goes. My first thought bringing a restaurant group into the program was ‘this is kind of like when Hertz ‘joined’ SkyTeam. But GHA Discovery already has a marketing partnership with Regent Seven Seas cruises. and they have a partnership with Plum Guides for vacation homes. This is just a tighter integration.

Wolseley Hospitality Group is part of Minor International, which owns NH Hotels – which are about half of GHA’s 800+ properties. So this could just be a one-off way to work with a close partner that wanted to bring loyalty into an adjacent business.

However, Jelena Kezika, Global Hotel Alliance Vice President of Strategy, tells me that it’s part of their long-term play “to expand our partner ecosystem beyond hotel brands.”

We see great potential in partnerships. In addition to our latest with the Wolseley Hospitality Group…We currently have over 40 other partnerships in place, largely to drive qualified customer acquisition, and we plan to partner with more airlines and restaurants going forward, as these are the top two categories valued most by our members across markets and tiers.

…The partnership with the Wolseley Hospitality Group is a perfect match from the product perspective, and we believe that our programme members will warmly receive this new programme addition. We look forward to collaborating with further like-minded companies.

Partnerships with airlines would be something new for GHA! They sell their currency and even run promotions with it now, I’ve often thought they have an opportunity with transferable currencies as well – not just to raise revenue, but also to introduce their program and brands to new, affluent audiences who travel (and who participate in loyalty schemes!). Perhaps there’s much more in their future.

Ultimately as programs mature they begin to think of themselves as a ‘platform’ and there are opportunities outside of their core business. And that’s true, as long as the starting place is what the customer needs, and tools they can offer to partners to deliver value to customers in ways that make for a compelling enough value proposition to frequent those businesses (and the tools they offer to the partners have to be robust enough that transactions are seamless and marketing campaigns can be executed well).